Learn How Kelley Austin Transformed Field Operations and Quoting for a Leader in Electrical Infrastructure with Salesforce

The Challenges

Our client, a leader in complex medium and high-voltage electrical infrastructure, faced significant operational challenges with multiple business units operating in siloed systems.

The company’s Field Services team utilized Salesforce Field Service, while three other critical teams relied on manual processes, such as Excel spreadsheets, for scheduling, quoting, and project management. This fragmented approach led to inefficiencies, versioning issues, and limited scalability — particularly as the company expanded its service offerings and acquired new companies while working with Kelley Austin.

Two teams in particular relied heavily on Excel workbooks to generate quotes. Manual, error-prone quoting led to significant issues, including outdated pricing, lack of visibility into line-level reporting, and version control problems. These quoting challenges compounded with operational inefficiencies — limiting the company’s ability to manage complex, multi-phase projects successfully.

Before partnering with Kelley Austin, the company faced several critical challenges:

Disconnected Systems: The company’s business units operated in siloed systems, causing inefficiencies in data management, scheduling, quoting, and reporting.

Manual Quoting Processes: Quoting was done using Excel — leading to outdated pricing, limited reporting visibility, and errors that impacted client relationships.

Limited Field Visibility: Technicians in remote or offline locations lacked real-time access to project data, impacting productivity and decision-making in the field.

Difficulty Managing Multi-Year Projects: Existing Salesforce Field Service tools were set up for short-term, quick-response jobs and were not equipped to manage the company’s multi-year, turnkey projects.

Acquisition Integration Challenges: A recent acquisition of an en engineering company added complexity to the project — requiring seamless integration into existing Salesforce systems without disrupting ongoing operations.

The Solution

By addressing inefficiencies in field operations, quoting, and project management, Kelley Austin delivered a seamless, scalable system that united multiple teams and processes under a single platform.

Salesforce Field Service

Kelley Austin expanded the company’s Field Service capabilities across all business units. This allowed our client to standardize processes, improve scheduling, and streamline project management. The solution was carefully implemented to integrate with the existing system used by the company’s Field Services team — ensuring continuity and minimizing disruption. Key elements of the Field Service solution included:

Unified Scheduling Platform: Implemented and extended Salesforce Field Service to replace manual Excel-based scheduling. This streamlined scheduling processes while preserving the integrity of the Field Services team's existing system.

Enhanced Mobile Access: Deployed the Salesforce Field Service Mobile App, enabling technicians to access project data and updates even in offline or remote environments. 

Custom Project Tracking: Introduced a custom object to manage multi-phase projects for one of the company’s business units — linking field-related phases to Work Orders while maintaining visibility over non-field phases.

Scalable System Integration: Integrated Salesforce with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and ADP to automate onboarding/offboarding processes and reduce manual data entry across project management systems.

Salesforce CPQ

To address the inefficiencies in quoting, Kelley Austin transitioned the company from Deltek Vantagepoint CRM to Sales Cloud and implemented Salesforce CPQ for multiple teams. This solution allowed the company to replace manual Excel-based workflows with a robust, scalable system that improved visibility. Key elements of the CPQ solution included:

Template-Based Quoting: Configured Salesforce CPQ to mimic Excel templates previously used by the team — enabling users to start with predefined values for recurring scenarios and make adjustments as needed.

Automated Product Line Creation: Enabled product line addition and cloning functionality, reducing manual data entry and ensuring consistency across quotes.

Version Control & Pricing Accuracy: Improved control over pricing updates and quote versioning, eliminating errors caused by outdated information and ensuring clients received accurate proposals.

Streamlined Proposal Generation: Automated the generation of proposal documents, reducing time spent on manual compilation.

Customer Impact

The expansion of Salesforce Field Service across our client’s multiple business units significantly improved operational efficiency and scalability. By replacing manual processes with automated workflows, the company streamlined scheduling, project management, and quoting — allowing teams to focus on delivering high-quality service. 

The integration of mobile access empowered field technicians with real-time data, improving responsiveness and decision-making. The company is now better positioned to onboard future acquisitions smoothly and scale its operations to meet growing demands.

Additionally, the Kelley Austin team showcased exceptional flexibility and problem-solving skills when our client acquired a company midway through the project. Despite this company not being part of the original discovery and design phases, Kelley Austin quickly adapted the project strategy to seamlessly integrate the new team into Salesforce. 

This included aligning the team’s processes with existing systems and extending Salesforce CPQ capabilities to support their operations. Kelley Austin’s ability to pivot and accommodate this unexpected change ensured a smooth transition and kept the project on track without disrupting progress.

By partnering with Kelley Austin our client experienced transformative results, including:

Operational Efficiency: Transitioning from spreadsheets to a unified Salesforce platform drastically reduced manual scheduling efforts, leading to faster project coordination and reduced errors.

Improved Quoting Accuracy: Salesforce CPQ eliminated outdated pricing issues, improved reporting, and reduced errors in the quoting process.

Greater Flexibility for Complex Projects: Custom solutions allowed our client to efficiently manage multi-year turnkey projects, which previously strained their field service capabilities.

Improved Field Productivity: Technicians gained real-time and offline access to critical project data — enabling faster decision-making and reduced downtime in the field.

Seamless Acquisition Integration: Kelley Austin's flexibility enabled the company to successfully onboard a new acquisition into existing Salesforce processes — ensuring continuity and scalability for future acquisitions.

Foundation for Growth: With integrated systems and scalable solutions in place, the company is now better positioned to manage future business expansions and operational demands. 

By partnering with Kelley Austin, our client not only resolved its operational challenges but also established a strong foundation for long-term success. Salesforce enabled the company to streamline complex workflows, improve efficiency, and enhance collaboration across multiple business units. 

With scalable systems in place, the company is now better equipped to handle future acquisitions, manage multi-year projects, and adapt to evolving business needs. Kelley Austin’s expertise and flexibility ensured a smooth transition — empowering our client to focus on delivering exceptional service and driving growth.